What is Psychology
What is the study of the mind and behavior?
Psychology
What perspective of psychology identifies aspects of behavior that are the result of evolutionary adaptations?
evolutionary perspective
What is the term that means that a study has been conducted more than once?
replication
What is correlational research?
Correlational research is where researchers measure two (or more) variables in order to understand the relationship between them. It can tell us how two or more variables relate to one another.
What is an independent variable? Give an example.
An independent variable is a variable that is manipulated by the researcher in a study.
For example, in drug trials, the independent variable might be the dosage of a drug that is given or if one group is given the drug and another is given a placebo.
This makes claims that are supposedly based on rigorous science, when in fact, it is not.
Pseudoscience
What perspective of psychology studies the mental processes that underlie perception, thought, learning, memory, language, and creativity?
cognitive perspective
What is a variable? Give an example of a variable.
A variable is something of interest that can vary from person to person. Examples of variables can include a person's height, levels of aggression, test scores, intelligence, eye color, etc.
What is a scatterplot? How can you tell the type of correlation from a scatterplot?
A scatterplot is a graph of a correlation where every point is a set of measurements of variables.
You can tell the type of correlation by how the data "slopes" in a scatterplot. In a positive correlation, the data will slope upwards, whereas in a negative correlation, the data will slope "downwards."
What is a dependent variable? Give an example of a dependent variable.
A dependent variable is a variable that is measured by the researcher to see if the change in the independent variable had an effect.
In an experiment on anxiety drugs, the dependent variable might be anxiety scores following 6 weeks of medication usage.
What is the term for evidence that is based on astute observation and accurate measurement?
empirical
What type of perspective of psychology would examine how parts of our brain function to shape how we think, act, and behave?
biological-neuroscience perspective
What are the differences between a theory, a hypothesis, and data?
A theory is a set of propositions about what people do and why.
A hypothesis is a prediction about what will happen based on that theory.
Data are observations from a study collected from people at certain times or in certain situations.
Researchers have found a correlation coefficient between two variables of -.88. What does this mean?
This means that the two variables have a strong negative correlation (i.e., a strong tendency for higher scores on one variable to be associated with lower scores on another variable)
What is the difference between an experimental and control group in an experimental design? Why is it important to have a control group?
An experimental group is the group that is given the manipulation of the independent variable whereas the control group does not receive the manipulation of the independent variable.
The control group is important because it serves as a comparison group.
What is the term for purposeful, reasoned and goal-directed thinking that seeks to examine evidence, evaluate conclusions, solve problems, make decisions, and formulate reasonable and accurate conclusions?
Critical thinking
What perspective seeks to understand aspects of behavior that are relatively stable over time and situation, such as whether we tend to act more as an introvert or extrovert?
personality perspective
Explain the purpose of descriptive research.
Descriptive research focuses on one measured variable at a time with the goal of describing what is typical.
Descriptive research can use things like surveys of observational data, such as naturalistic observation. Case studies are another example of descriptive research.
What is the "third variable problem" in correlational research?
The third variable problem is the issue that we cannot necessarily rule out alternative explanations to a correlational relationship. Because of the way that data is collected, it is possible that another variable is influencing the correlation between two variables. Therefore, the third-variable problem occurs whenever a correlation is observed between two variables is actually explained by the influence of a third variable.
What is the difference between random selection and random assignment?
Why is random assignment so important when it comes to extraneous variables?
Random selection is an attempt to ensure that everyone in a population has equal chance of participating in your study.
Random assignment is an attempt to ensure that everyone in your sample has equal chance of being in the experimental group or control group.
Random assignment is important because it helps to decrease the chances that an extraneous variable will influence your results. For instance, if you are studying memory skills and have a large number of gifted children in one group, but not the other, their intellectual skills could impact the results of the study (and thus be an extraneous variable)
What important milestone happened in 1879?
Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory and began experiments testing his structuralist approach, and thus, establishing the field of psychology.
What perspective of psychology would focus on the causes and treatments of psychological disorders?
clinical psychology
What is the difference between a population and a sample? Why is having a representative sample so important?
A population is a larger set of individuals that the researcher is trying to understand.
A sample is a smaller group of people (a subset of the population) that participates in research.
It is important to have a representative sample because that is how you can generalize the findings of the research (based on your sample) to your general population of interest.
What is one of the major limitations of correlational research?
While correlational research is helpful in revealing relationships between variables, it is not enough to explain a causal relationship.
Just because two variables are correlated does NOT mean we can say that one variable causes the other (correlation - causation fallacy)
How are reliability and validity different?
Reliability refers to the degree to which a measure yields consistent results each time.
Validity refers to the appropriateness or accuracy of the claim or conclusion.